"Taxi Cab" meets "All in the Family"

Between Ibrahim Corecki and his father, there's 45 years of taxi-driving history.

Matt Porter (Boston College) December 11, 2009 17:09Updated May 30, 2010 12:13

Ibrahim Corekci, 23, has owned his own taxi in Ankara for five years. Corekci’s father drove for 40 years before quitting in 2006. (Matt Porter/GlobalPost)

ANKARA, Turkey — On a corner across from the Turkish prime minister's grand residence lays the humble shed of what drives Ankara’s society: its taksiciler, or taxi drivers.

Like many big cities, Turkey’s capital depends on a mammoth fleet of taxis. Cars and gas are too costly for most citizens, which increases the demand for taxis. Hundreds of small taxi companies, each with their own taxi sheds or shacks, compete. Some are large, like those at airports. Most are just big enough for a card table and a few drivers.

“It’s kind of like being in a frat house,” says Jeff Turner, an American who spent several years in Turkey as a child and returned this year as a student researcher.

Inside the taxi stand near Turner's corner, four drivers slammed down cards on a table in a complex card game. Downing several cups of tea each and sharing a cigarette or two, they laughed and chatted with each other through the night shift.

Turner says the taxi stands are often a strategic place for neighborhood information.

“They just sit there all day long,” Turner says. “They see who comes and who goes.”

Turner likened the taxi stands to a neighborhood water cooler. After disposing of several wine bottles near the taxi stand after a party, Turner was surprised but not offended when the taxi drivers asked whether he was, indeed, a tea-totaler as he'd earlier claimed.

Taxi receipts are neither constant nor plentiful, and overnight shifts can come away with less than 10 Turkish lira, or about $7. Customers are not always sympathetic.

“They bust their ass for very little,” adds Turner.

Ibrahim Corekci, 23, has owned his own taxi for five years. Corekci’s father drove for 40 years before quitting in 2006.

“I wanted to work,” says Corekci, a high school graduate. “If I could have gone to an American university, that would be different.”